shabram



March 1964 1.. F. SHABRAM FILM PIERCING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 21, 1960 FIG. 2.

m/wswrae LYLE E 5HA BRAM BY ms Arro/e/vsys' HAZE/5, K/EC/l, RUSSELL. (i/(50v March 31, 1964 L. F. SHABRAM 3,126,777

FILM-PIERCING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 21, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 L YLE F SHAB/PAM By Ms ATTOEAASKS HARE/5. K/Ech', 2055541. &- KE/ZA/ United States Patent 3,126,777 FILM-PIERCING APPARATUS Lyle F. Shabram, Danville, Califi, assignor to Consolidated Thermoplastic Comp'any, Stamford, Comm, a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 21, 1960, Ser. No. 70,469 2 Claims. (Cl. 83-174) This invention relates to apparatus for piercing film material in strip form and, in particular, to apparatus operable at high speeds with very thin film material as well as with thicker material. The specific embodiment of the invention described herein is particularly adapted for use with synthetic material such as polyethylene in the thickness range of about 0.0005 to 0.020 inch and operating at speeds in the order of 700 feet per minute.

It is often desirable to pierce sheet material in strip form in a continuous operation. A typical application is the piercing of polyethylene film prior to its being formed into bags so that the finished bags will have appropriate openings for ventilation and the like. The piercing may be accomplished by feeding the strip of material from a supply roll, between piercing and backup rollers, and onto a takeup roll or into a bag-making machine or the like. The piercing roller will have a plurality of radially extending fingers which engage the surface of the backup roller to provide the desired openings in the film material. The piercing fingers may be needle-shaped to provide small openings, may be made in the form of punches to remove material and provide larger openings, and may be in the form of knife edges to provide slits in the material. Problems are encountered in the continuous operation of such apparatus due to the heavy Wear and early destruction of the backup roller by contact with the piercing fingers. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a film-piercing apparatus having a new and novel type of backup roller having a substantially infinite life and being suitable for continuous use with various types of piercing fingers.

It is an object of the invention to provide a film-piercing apparatus having a backup roller with a coating of resilient put-t y for penetration by the film-piercing fingers and including means for kneading the putty to provide a smooth surface after passing the penetrating fingers. Another object is to provide such an apparatus utilizing one or more cylindrical rollers positioned for pressure engagement with the surface of the backup roller to provide the kneading operation on the resilient putty.

It is an object of the invention to provide filrn-piercing apparatus for handling a roll of sheet material including roll-feeding means, film-piercing and backup rollers, and roll-takeup means. A further object is to provide such apparatus including means for driving the strip of material between the piercing and backup rollers and means for driving these rollers in counterrotating relation. A further object is to provide such apparatus including means for controlling the depth of penetration of the piercing fingers into the backup roller and means for controlling the speed of operation of the various components of the apparatus.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description. The drawings merely show and the description merely describes preferred embodiments of the present invention which are given by way of illustration or example.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of 3,126,777 Patented Mar. 31, 1964 the apparatus of FIG. 2, taken along the line 3-3 thereof;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the piercing operation as shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 55 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to that of FIG. 3 of an alternative embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of the film-piercing punches of FIG. 6.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the apparatus of the invention is mounted in a frame comprising vertical plates 10, 11 and horizontal spacer bars '12, 13, 14, 14'. A shaft 15 for supporting a roll 16 of sheet material is carried on arms 17 attached to the plates '10, 11. A take up mechanism, indicated generally at 18, is carried on arms 19 projecting from the other edges of the plates 10, 1 1. The takeup mechanism 18 includes cylindrical rollers 23 and 24 mounted between the arms 19' and a mandrel 25 riding in slots 26 of vertically disposed members 27. The mandrel 25 also passes through openings in one end of pivoting arms 28, each having a pin 29' at the other end for riding in a horizontal slot 30 in a plate 31 carried on the frame. This mechanism is shown in greater detail in FIG. 3.

A backup roller 35 is mounted between the plates 10, 1'1 and a film-piercing roller 36- is mounted between pivoted arms 37 which in turn are mounted on the plates 10, 11 by pins 38. The strip of material to be pierced is threaded from the roll 16 under an idler roller 39, over the backup roller 35, under another idler roller 40, and over the rollers 23, 24 onto the takeup mandrel 25. The backup roller 35 is driven from an electric motor 41 through a belt 42, a variable speed transmission 43 and a belt 44. The piercing roller 36 is driven from the backup roller 35 through gears 46, 47. The gear 46 is mounted on a shaft 48 carried on the plate 10 and the gear 47 is mounted on an idler shaft 49 carried between the pins 38. A cam 55 is mounted on a pin 56 in the plate 11 and engages the pivoting arm 37. The cam is rotated by -a lever 57 for controlling the relative position of the backup and piercing rollers. A screw 5-8 threadedly mounted in the arm 37 engages the top of the plate 10, serving as a stop to limit the minimum distance between the rollers.

The takeup roller 23 is driven from the backup roller 35 via a belt 65, a variable speed transmission 66, and another belt 67. The roller 24 is driven from the roller 23 by a belt es.

A roller 70 is mounted in slots 71 between the plates 10, 11 for engagement with the backup roller 35. A similar roller 72 is mounted in slot 73. Adustment screws 74 are mounted in brackets carried on the plates 10, 1-1 for controlling the pressure contact between the rollers 70, 72 and the backup roller 35. The structure of the backup and piercing rollers is shown in greater detail in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. The piercing roller 36 includes a cylindrical shell mounted on a tubular shaft 81 and extending substantially the full distance between the plates 10, 11. Three rings 82 are slid onto the shell 80 and are clamped between collars 83. Each of the rings 82 carries a plurality of radially extending members in the form of needles 84. The number of needle-carrying rings 82 mounted on the shell 80 depends upon the width of the strip of material to be pierced.

The backup roller 35 is constructed similarly to the piercing roller 36, including a cylindrical shell 30 mounted on a tubular shaft '81. A sleeve 85 having an annular channel 86 is mounted on the shell 80 by set screws 87. The channel section 86 of the sleeve is at least as wide as the bank of needle-carrying rings 82, the channel being filled with a backup material 88 over which the web of film material 89 passes.

,The backup material 88 is a particular type of caulking compound or putty referred to herein as resilient putty. Resilient putty is a soft, pliable material that is readily and permanently deformed by steady application of pressure. However, the resilient putty has a peculiar characteristic in that when subjected to a sharp impact it will behave as a resilient material and resist deformation. For example, a block of resilient putty can be readily formed into a ball by rolling between the palms of the hands. However, if this ball of resilient putty is thrown to the floor, it will bounce like a rubber ball, retaining its spherical shape. The resilient putty is a kneadable cold-flowing composition which is elastic under impulsive force. A preferred form of this composition comprises a heat reaction product of a dimethyl silicone oil and a minor proportion of a boron compound containing both boron and oxygen and, if desired, a filler and a hydrophilic material or a hydrophobic material, or both. A process for making such a composition is described in United States Letters Patent No. 2,541,851 to I. G. E. Wright. A resilient putty of this type is presently being marketed by General Electric Company as Silicone Putty SS91, This material is sold at retail under a number of names, including Silly Putty and Goofy Putty. When used as the backup material in the film-piercing apparatus described herein, the resilient putty provides a relatively hard resilient surface for backing up the web of material 89 so that the piercing members will make clean sharp openings in the web as the needles pierce the web and penetrate the resilient putty. However, the resilient putty is also pliable so that it may be kneaded by the rollers 70', 72 to remove the openings 90 left by the penetrating fingers and present a uniformly smooth surface for again backing up the web at the piercing zone. With a backup roller utilizing resilient putty as a backup material, the piercing action of the penetrating fingers is as clean and sharp at the end of a run as at the beginning since a new smooth backup surface is presented at the piercing zone continuously. The effects of wear encountered with ordinary backup material such as rubber or wood are entirely eliminated. The particular apparatus shown herein has been used in the piercing of polyethylene film in thickness ranges of 0.0005 to 0.006 at speeds of 500 to 700 feet per minute and in runs of 20,000 feet of material with completely satisfactory results and no deterioration of the piercing action during the runs.

The needles 84 shown in the embodiment described above may be used to produce circular openings in the order of about inch diameter. Alternatively, elongated pie-rcing members having knife edges may be used to provide slits in the film material. For larger openings, it is usually desirable to punch out or remove material and an alternative form of the invention for punching circular openings is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Components identical with those of the embodiment of FIGS. 1-5 are identified by the same reference numerals. A piercing roller 91 carries a plurality of circular punches 92. The punches preferably are hollow and this punched out material tends to lodge Within the punches. Means may be provided for blowing out the punches after the punching operation. One such means is shown in FIG. 6 and includes an air pressure line in the shaft 8 1 on which the roller 91 rides, a nozzle 96 projecting from the shaft 81, and a receptacle 97. Air under pressure is directed through the nozzle 96 to blow the punched out material from the hollow punches 92 into the receptacle 97.

Punched out material also may be deposited in the resilient putty. 'Ihis'can be removed prior to the kneading step by providing a vacuum line 93 with a nozzle 94 positioned along the backup roller between the piercing zone and the first kneading roller 7 0. The vacuum system sucks the scrap from the backup roller, after which the penetrated putty is kneaded to the smooth cylindrical surface for backing up the web when the revolution is completed. The backup roller 35 is constructed in the same manner as in the previous embodiment.

Although exemplary embodiments of the invention have been disclosed and discussed, it will be understood that other applications of the invention are possible and that the embodiments disclosed may be subjected to various changes, modifications and substitutions without necessarily departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a high speed apparatus for piercing film and sheet material, the combination of: a rotatable drum, peripheral radially extending flanges integral with each axial end of said drum, a layer of resilient silicone putty forming a surface on said drum between said flanges, said putty being maintained axially immovable 01f from said surface by said flanges; said putty being a kneadable coldflowing material, readily and permanently deformed by steady application of pressure and resiliently resistant to deformation by a sharp impact; a member having a plur-ality of piercing devices; means operatively relating and relatively moving said drum and member to cause said devices to pierce the sheet material and enter said putty to form an opening in the putty; and means operatively related to said drum to reestablish a continuous planar surface on said putty layer free from any openings formed by the piercing device, said means normally exerting a pressure on the putty to: cause axial movement of'the putty.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said putty is a heat reaction product of dimethyl silicone oil and a boron-oxygen compound.

' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,750,708 Edwards Mar. 18, 1930 2,175,461 Gylleck et all. Oct. 10, 1939 2,683,208 Andrews July 6-, 1954 2,968,982 Cousino Jan. 24, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 15,909 Germany Jan. 16, 1881 790,212 Great Britain Feb. 5, 1958 

1. IN A HIGH APPARATUS FOR PIERCING FILM AND SHEET MATERIAL, THE COMBINATION OF; A ROTATABLE DRUM, PERIPHERAL RADIALLY EXTENDING FLANGES INTEGRAL WITH EACH AXIAL END OF SAID DRUM, A LAYER OF RESILIENT SILICONE PUTTY FORMING A SURFACE ON SAID DRUM BETWEEN SAID FLANGES, SAID PUTTY BEING MAINTAINED AXIALLY IMMOVABLE OFF FROM SAID SURFACE BY SAID FLANGES; SAID PUTTY BEING A KNEADABLE COLDFLOWING MATERIAL, READILY AND PERMANENTLY DEFORMED BY STEADY APPLICATION OF PRESSURE AND RESILIENTLY RESISTANT TO DEFORMATION BY A SHARP IMPACT; A MEMBER HAVING A PLURALITY OF PIERCING DEVICES; MEANS OPERATIVELY RELATING AND RELATIVELY MOVING SAID DRUM AND MEMBER TO CAUSE SAID DEVICES TO PIERCE THE SHEET MATERIAL AND ENTER SAID PUTTY TO FORM AN OPENING IN THE PUTTY; AND MEANS OPERATIVELY RELATED TO SAID DRUM TO REESTABLISH A CONTINUOUS PLANAR SURFACE ON SAID PUTTY LAYER FREE FROM ANY OPENINGS FORMED BY THE PIERCING DEVICE, SAID MEANS NORMALLY EXERTING A PRESSURE ON THE PUTTY TO CAUSE AXIAL MEVEMENT OF THE PUTTY. 